Question

Outline how the operations strategy is developed?

Answer 1

Before knowing exactly how to develop a great operation strategy we must know what exactly is meant by “operation strategy”. The answer to this question can be written in the words of great operation strategist Nigel Slack and Michael Lewis who defines Operations strategy as “the total pattern of decisions which shape the long-term capabilities of any type of operations and their contribution to the overall strategy.”

Now the steps of developing a great operation strategy could be listed as follows-

i. The first thing in the formulation of the right operation strategy is to have the right people that are people who have knowledge of the various nuances of the business operations and with whom these matters could be discussed.

ii. Then a thorough study of the overall business strategy should be done. The reason for this study is simply that there should be an alignment between the operation strategy and operation strategy.

iii. Then the quantifiable and measurable goals should be developed so that the result could be evaluated in the future and if the necessity arises the operation strategy could be molded as per the contingency of the time.

iv. Now it is time to work on the nitty-gritty of the developed organizational goals that how it will be implemented and all. For this, you need to do a lot of brainstorming. Because without proper implementation of the strategy, no goals can be achieved.

v. At this stage, the important steps of the developed goals should be highlighted so that it could be controlled and achieved easily.

vi. One important thing while doing all this stuff should be kept in mind that the plan should be easy to understand and implement.

vii. A proper index and appendix should also be used.

viii. After all this, a robust budget should be developed for the plan so that the financial need of the business plan could be met.

ix. At this stage, you should do comparative study of the current scale of operations and the desirable scale of operations and you should try to identify the missing points so that those missing points could be fixed.

x. Now, try to divide the entire plan on a daily basis. You should also take note of the assets, machinery etc.

xi. There should always be scope of flexibility in the plan as future is unpredictable. Hence, this step should not be overlooked so that if anything undesirable happens then the plan can sustain those unpredicted jerks.

xii. And last but not the least, for any great operation strategy to become reality. Each and every step of the plan should be thoroughly monitored regularly.

Hence, we can develop a great operation strategy by following the above mentioned steps.